Crossed - The Karma Crusades (A Wattpad Featured Story)

CROSSED - Chapter 5

Lana was in shock, her body trembling as her mind returned from being driven by her instinctual need to survive. "Oh my God! Mickal! Mickal! What did I do? What did you do? Answer me Mickal! It wasn't a lie. I do love you!" She picked up his lifeless body and cradled it in her lap as she kneeled beside him.

"I...I just can't marry you. Don't you understand that Mickal? You stupid brute. This is why I can't marry you. Why no one should. But I still love you."

Lana was sobbing uncontrollably and caressing his cheeks still warm from the blood that had been heated by their battle. She pulled the lids over his blank eyes. She looked at Mickal's lifeless face through a sheet of tears. He hadn't understood.

Lana sat in the damp grass rocking Mickal's limp body. The shock of what had just happened slowly began to wear off as she held the limp body on her lap. Reality began to set in that she'd just killed her boyfriend and she glanced around to see if there had been any witnesses to her crime.

Out here there was no one. There were only the birds and wood creatures to bear witness. She would need to find a way to conceal his body.

She might never forgive herself or forget about what had just taken place and his blood would forever stain her hands; but she couldn't allow the rest of her life to be ruined because of his temper and stupidity. He'd made her do this. He'd come after her and tried to get the knife. He had gotten too angry because he didn't understand.

Lana looked around her. There were the woods. She'd bury him deep in the woods! No, that would take too long. She would dig a large hole by the lake side where the ground was softer and digging would go more quickly. That might work but that would still take longer than she had.

If she weren't home before her parents got home from work, they would start worrying and start asking questions. She would barely get through the door before the interrogation began. If RB had a bad day it could get even worse for her.

She needed to get moving, quick. And then she looked at the small dock by the lake, in poor shape but usable. Lana looked around her. There had to be something she could use.

Twenty five yards from her on the side of the lake, she spotted it. The oddly shaped white speckled rock about the size of a basketball would do what she needed. She ran over and struggled to lift it. As she carried it cumbersomely to where Mickal's body lay all she could say to herself was, "But he was going to kill me."

She still wasn't convinced she'd done the right thing but she'd done the only thing she knew to do to survive. She was angry at him for forcing her to do it. The guilt tried to clutch at her heart as she dropped the rock by his foot. She resisted guilt's grip as she did what she had to do.

She looked down at him now, the blood having left his face and knew she would have to get over the guilt. Over him. How deceiving love could be.

She removed the pocket knife that still stuck out from his chest. She needed the shirt he wore. It felt like an eternity had gone by in the time it took for her to use his blood stained shirt to tie the large rock against his body.

The rock sat inside his shirt and she tied the ends of the shirt tightly around his calf. Double knotting and triple knotting the sleeves of what was once her favorite blue and grey plaid shirt, she secured everything in place.

Sweat poured down her nose and the side of her face. Her hair that had been blown straight now had ringlets around the edges. She lifted Mickal's heavy body and dragged it with the stone to the dock. He still had the build from his high school football days and those pounds now strained against her arms and legs. She could hear the banging and dragging of the heavy rock as she struggled slowly on the wooden planks.

Her body ached under the weight but she couldn't stop. There was no other out. She caught her breath and wiped her eyes before picking up what remained of Mickal. At the edge of the dock that overlooked the brown murky waters covered in a thin layer of algae, she stopped and kneeled down beside him. He looked like he was simply asleep.

His dark hair crowned his head and his thick brows no longer bore any memory of the anger that had caused this. She hoped that wherever he was now he would forgive her, or even better, forget her.

She kissed his pasty forehead softly, straightened her back, and with a strong push she rolled him in. The splash seemed to startle the birds again and their chirping and singing were a deafening cry bearing witness to her crime.

Lana rose to her feet, the shaky dock beneath her and with a new burst of energy from the adrenaline still pumping through her body she sprinted back through the woods. The basket of blueberries beat against her damp and bloodied leg.

She ran from their secret place and the murderous crime she'd committed. The plunging of the knife continued to replay in her mind. She tripped and stumbled over the vines and stumps she'd so gracefully avoided on her way in, but nothing would slow her. She had to get away. Get away.

Lanaran. She's been running ever since. But at some point every race must end.

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